Australian Corporate Lawyer - Autumn 2017

theAustraliancorporatelawyer
THE CYCLE OF KNOWLEDGE
THROUGH MENTORING
Dr Karina Butera
A training and development specialist with
a core focus of helping businesses give their
employees the best chance of success, Karina
champions conversational and experiential
learning as the most relevant and powerful form
of professional growth. A keen artist, Karina
also boasts a PHD in Sociology and along with
consulting, team and leadership training, Karina
facilitates the ACC Australia Mentoring Program. .
Mentoring has traditionally been
viewed as a way for senior
professionals to benevolently
build relationships with junior or advancing
professionals, with the aim of passing on
knowledge and giving back to the profession.
Over the past decade, however, the idea
of the ‘mentor’ as altruistic teacher and the
‘mentee’ as hungry student has been turned
on its head. With the recognition that the “Y”
generation were raised to soak up change
and technology, and to be confident in
questioning the status quo, reverse mentoring
is now something that is being encouraged
for the “X” and “Baby Boomer” generation as
part of their own ongoing learning. 1
Of course, the less experienced of the
partnership (the “mentee” or “aspirant”) has
much to gain from the mentoring relationship.
In a successful mentoring relationship,
the mentee has access to someone who
has walked the path they are embarking
on. Learning can include gaining greater
historical and industry related knowledge;
advice on career progression; useful templates
and readings; ideas on further educational
opportunities; networking tips and
introductions; guidance to managing upwardly
and having a sounding board for testing out
ideas and dealing with complex issues.
However, gone are the days when a mentor
would put their arm around the wide-eyed
protégé, gesturing an expansive mahogany
lined office with floor to ceiling city views
promising “listen to my advice and do what I
do, and this could all be yours one day!”
In the 21 st century, rather than being a
downward relationship, mentoring is now
clearly a two way partnership. The mentor
seeks to understand the goals and challenges
of the mentee, and openly shares not only
their opinions on how to improve, but
vulnerabilities – confiding stories of their own
fears, challenges and mistakes along the way.
This is a human relationship based on trust,
openness and mutual respect.
While the mentee has much to learn
from the mentor, mentors also create for
themselves a valuable means of having old
ideas challenged, gaining inter-generational
perspectives, understanding a different
language and set of concerns, and of course,
gaining access to someone who views
technology as no more daunting than driving
a car.
Improved Leadership Skills
As one progresses within an organisation,
they are less likely to have their leadership
style questioned by subordinates. The
accepted understanding in companies is
that to provide critical feedback to someone
above you on the chain would be seen as
‘career suicide.’ In fact, research shows that
the higher one rises on the organisational
chart, the higher the level of deference they
will receive from others in the organisation.
This of course, is great for the ego but not
so fantastic in the long run if you want to be
truly effective in your role. 2
Many mentors have commented to me that
one of the greatest benefits they receive from
mentoring is that often the dilemmas the
mentee brings to a mentoring session are
problems relating to their manager or higher.
When discussing the issue, the mentor has
a moment of stark insight, realising they are
guilty of the same behaviour, expectations
or assumptions. This enables them to reflect
on their own leadership or management
style and either seek specific 360 degree
feedback or simply test out changes in their
own workplace.
Refreshing Taken-for
-granted Practices
When was the last time you took a ‘learner’
out on a driving lesson? Did it bring into sharp
focus how much of what you do when you
drive is ingrained in habit and how many
of the correct ways of driving we tend to
overlook ourselves? Just as teaching a student
driver is a reminder to us to remember to
check our blind spots, not to cross a solid line
when changing lanes and to check the rearview
mirror whenever braking, so too does
educating a new lawyer on the processes and
protocols of daily legal practice.
Further, acceptable guidelines and plainlanguage
principles in the current legal
climate may be different to the more formal
and complex language and style guides you
are still using after 20-30 years in practice. As
a mentor, asking your mentee to share with
you their current understanding of what
they recently learned not only gives you the
opportunity to reinforce their new knowledge,
but refresh your older learning. This keeps
your own practices at the cutting-edge of
professional norms.
30 VOLUME 27, ISSUE 1 – AUTUMN 2017